Bartering Treasures

Xiao Yi Xian slowly walked into the room and swept her gaze across its interior. When her eyes passed over the crystal display stands on the counter, a flicker of surprise flashed through them.

"Fire Heart Seven Leaf Flower? Blood Crystal Grass? Blue Rock Heart Stone?..."

Looking at those rare treasures, each one seldom seen, all gathered in one place, Xiao Yi Xian could not help but be amazed by the collection here. It was simply too abundant.

Xiao Yi Xian glanced at Gute, who stood behind her with a fawning grin. For some reason, she had the urge to pack everything up and take it away.

To be honest, even if she forcibly took them, Gute probably would not dare say anything. Still, he would inevitably hold a grudge. The best solution would be to kill him!

There were no secrets that stayed hidden forever. They had come here openly, and if anyone investigated, things might turn out like last time.

But last time, they had dealt with mercenaries. If they killed someone this time and word somehow got out, they would earn the enmity of Gu He, a sixth-tier alchemist.

Besides, while the treasures here were good, they were not particularly useful to her. She was not an alchemist.

There was no need to take such a risk. The strongest member of her group was only a Dou Wang...

Xiao Yi Xian sensed Gute's collection. There really was a poison among it that seemed fairly good.

"Gute, trade me the poison you have hidden here!"

Xiao Yi Xian sat to one side with her legs crossed, lightly tapping the table with her fingers. A faint aura flashed and vanished.

"Right away!"

Gute wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, suppressing the reluctance in his heart as he entered the inner room. A series of clicking mechanism sounds came from afar.

Gute emerged holding a small jade bottle, looking somewhat pained. His body trembled when he looked at the woman in the worn bronze mask.

"My lady, this jade bottle contains the deadly poison of a Fifth-order Nether Scorpion. Even a Dou Huang would face considerable trouble if they were careless enough to be poisoned by it!"

Gute's eyes gleamed as he eagerly explained the benefits of the item and how difficult it had been to obtain.

With a sweep of her sleeve, Xiao Yi Xian collected the jade bottle from Gute's hand into her Storage Ring.

Feeling the item vanish from his hand, tears even welled up in Gute's eyes.

Seeing this old man acting like that gave Xiao Yi Xian goosebumps all over. She casually tossed him another small bottle.

Gute curiously opened the unfamiliar bottle before him. Immediately, a wisp of purple vapor curled out, and the temperature within this small space seemed to rise sharply.

Feeling the surrounding air gradually grow scorching hot, then staring at the strands of vapor that resembled purple flames, Gute's pupils contracted slightly.

After a while, Gute smacked his lips and cautiously reached out, gripping the jade bottle tightly.

He then held it beneath his nose and lightly sniffed the dense purple vapor. At once, he noticed that the fire-attributed Dou Qi within his body, which had originally circulated at a turtle's pace, had become much more active.

"Now this is good stuff." Feeling the change in his Dou Qi, surprise appeared on Gute's aged face as he clicked his tongue in admiration.

After pondering for a while, he suddenly turned around and rummaged through a pile of junk nearby. At last, he pulled out a crystal dish and a hollow fine needle.

He inserted the needle into the jade bottle, gently squeezed it, and drew up a tube of purple liquid before cautiously dripping it onto the crystal dish.

As the purple liquid fell onto the crystal dish, Xiao Yi Xian and Gute could both see faint purple flames flickering within the droplet.

"This..." Gute frowned deeply and pondered for a moment. Then he suddenly turned around, retrieved a thick book from behind a concealed stone slab, opened it, and rapidly flipped through its pages as though searching for something.

Watching Gute's actions, Xiao Yi Xian naturally knew that this bastard definitely knew what the stuff was.

Liu Yan merely smiled faintly when he saw this. When he had first obtained it, he had also been surprised—no, even shocked.

But he had already had this stuff for a long time. If Xiao Ling'er and Chi Han had not been incompatible with this attribute, then heh...

Xiao Yi Xian glanced at the small jade bottle on the table, but she did not have many thoughts about the Companion Amethyst Crystal Source.

The main thing was that it was basically useless to her. Using it for a trade was fine.

This was the finest supplementary item for tempering fire-attributed cultivation techniques. With it, one could save a great deal of arduous cultivation time!

Back in the Monster Mountain Range, Xiao Yi Xian had obtained only six bottles of Companion Amethyst Crystal Source in total after opening that cache. She had given one bottle to Liu Yan, but she still had plenty left.

These five bottles of Companion Amethyst Crystal Source were practically priceless, each and every one. In terms of rarity and value, they were absolutely no worse than this poison.

After all, obtaining Companion Amethyst Crystal Source was no easier than venturing into any dangerous land. The Dou Huang-level Amethyst Winged Lion King alone was enough to leave countless people with the desire but not the ability.

"Found it, found it!" Just as Xiao Yi Xian was thinking, Gute, who had been endlessly flipping through the book, suddenly shouted excitedly.

Liu Yan curiously directed his gaze toward the ancient-looking book with its yellowed pages. He could vaguely glimpse an enormous creature entirely encased in amethyst on the page.

The giant beast was roaring at the sky, and it was none other than the Amethyst Winged Lion King.

"Companion Amethyst Crystal Source, produced by the Amethyst Winged Lion King and born alongside its young. The chance is exceedingly small, something sought once in a hundred years. For those cultivating fire-attributed techniques, it is a priceless treasure beyond the value of gold!"

"Tut, tut, I never would have thought it, my lady. You actually managed to obtain a strange treasure like Companion Amethyst Crystal Source..." After reading the information on the page, Gute could not help saying in astonishment.

"I only obtained it by chance." Xiao Yi Xian smiled faintly, raised her eyes, and looked at Gute, whose gaze had never left the small jade bottle. "Well? Are you satisfied with what I brought out, Gute?"

Hearing this, Gute's eyes rolled around. He threw his head back and laughed, lightly tapping the crystal dish with the fine needle in his hand as he said with a beaming smile, "Satisfied, very satisfied. I wonder if there's anything else you fancy, my lady? Everything is negotiable."

Seeing Gute's face full of a profiteer's expression, Xiao Yi Xian could only smile wryly. There really was not much else here that she wanted.

At that moment, Xiao Ling'er came out from somewhere carrying a stone and said to Xiao Yi Xian, "Sister, can I have this?"

Xiao Yi Xian looked at the stone in Xiao Ling'er's hands, and her soul power instantly surged out, scanning it inside and out.

It was merely the beast core of some unknown magical beast. Even the energy within it had long since dissipated.

"Gute, you don't mind if I take this broken stone, do you?"

Hearing Xiao Yi Xian's words and seeing the teasing look beneath her mask, Gute had wanted to say no. But that pressure swept over him in an instant, and he dejectedly said, "Since it's my lady's little sister, take it, take it!"